Male actors auditioned with a scene from the first episode: a tense confrontation at the mall between Bret and Robert. “I remember specifically when Homer walked into the room,” Murphy says. “I had him read for Matt, Thom, Bret. As soon as he read Robert, I thought, That’s the guy.”
Simpson found Gere’s audition just as memorable. “When Homer came in, he had this intensity and intelligence but also a mystery about him that you really wanted in Robert Mallory,” he says. “And Igby—who read for us several times—had this sort of sardonic voice and this air of distance. He was both present but also seemed to be floating above the other actors.”
Photo: FX
Gerber, on the other hand, was almost predestined for the role of Susan Reynolds, the popular yet aloof student body president and Bret’s longtime best friend. When Murphy asked Ellis himself if he had any thoughts on the casting, he said, “No, but I think Kaia Gerber would be the best Susan.” Murphy replied, “That’s funny, I had the same idea.” When the producer called Gerber up, “it turns out that she had been tracking that book and that part specifically,” Murphy notes.
Gerber isn’t the only familiar name in the cast. Wes Bentley—a regular Murphy collaborator—plays Terry Schaffer, the sleazy movie-producer father of Bret’s girlfriend, Debbie. Evan Rachel Wood, meanwhile, is Debbie’s alcoholic mother, Liz, and Broadway producer Jordan Roth takes on the role of Terry’s assistant, Steven Reinhardt.
